Marshals arrest 75 in region

This spring's roundup netted twice last year's

Tracking down a man wanted for murder in Texas was one of dozens of
success stories coming out of the local efforts of a national fugitive
sweep.

Local U.S. Marshals netted the suspect after learning he had been
convicted of another crime and was serving time in Florida.

"We found him on paper," said Carlos Trevizo, U.S. Marshal
supervisory deputy. "He is in prison in Jacksonville, Fla., doing time
for manslaughter. They didn't know he was already in prison."

Francis Wilson, 56, was wanted in connection with a murder in Texas,
but Trevizo said the murder was not a local one.

He had no further details on the murder charge.

Trevizo said this year's roundup, dubbed Operation Falcon II, netted
60 people in Corpus Christi and 15 in the area wanted on a wide range
of criminal charges including kidnapping, weapons, narcotics, burglary,
robbery, assaults and failure to appear in court.

"We did one last year but this year was much better," said Trevizo.
"We doubled what we picked up last year."

He said the sweep even picked up a 15-year-old girl who had been
reported as a runaway from San Antonio. She was returned to her
parents, he said.

The nationwide roundup, conducted from April 17-23 primarily west of
the Mississippi River, nabbed 9,037 fugitives, including 1,102 wanted
for felony sex offences, violent sexual assaults and failure to
register as sex offenders.

Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in 27 states
participated, and more than 10,419 felony warrants were cleared.

About 30 locally based officers, including Corpus Christi police,
Nueces County sheriff's deputies, county constables and state law
enforcement officers, participated in the effort.

The Marshal Service spent $531,000 on the weeklong exercise, most of
it to pay overtime to local and state police, said David Dimmitt, chief
deputy U.S. Marshal, according to The Associated Press.

Police Capt. J. Vesley, who is in charge of the department's
Juvenile Enforcement Team, said there wasn't an arrest that stood out
for him this year but he did find something interesting about the whole
operation.

"We found these people all over town," he said. "It

wasn't just one particular section. It was from the island to
Calallen it made no difference. They were mixing among us."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Sara Lee Fernandez

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